What's scary about an 8.6?

Yes it does. And no they don't.

I would love a link for this if anyone can be bothered.

Edit: Nevermind, bought it yesterday. I like it a lot and I'm having trouble understanding any hate toward it. I mean, besides the whole "suburbs" thing being a tired idea I think it's above average... Perhaps not brilliant, but definitely good.

it's too sonically uniform for my liking.

amazing
 

I think its brillant personally

Me too!!! I don't think it's all that sonically uniform either... there are tracks that pretty much go in all sorts of directions sonically. The theme seems to be fairly central, but that's pretty typical of Arcade Fire albums, they tend to be built on a thematic spine.

It's definitely a grower. For a while, I liked it less than Neon Bible (and, naturally, significantly less than Funeral), but now I believe it's superseded their sophomore release in my eyes. It still doesn't touch Funeral, but that was basically the defining album of the decade, so I didn't expect it to overtake that masterpiece.

Now, I like The Suburbs a lot. It doesn't overwhelm emotionally on first listen like their other two albums, but the songs have a way of getting under your skin. The only songs I don't like are the chunk in the last third ("Wasted Hours, "Deep Blue", "Sprawl I" - thank god "We Used To Wait" breaks it up a bit), but those are more just kinda boring than bad. The only song I really don't like is "City With No Children," which is my pick for, easily, the worst Arcade Fire song.

Maybe I'll write a full review of this album once I get into the swing of things here, but I'm still new. For now, I'll just say The Suburbs gets a definite thumbs up.

It isn't sonically uniform at all (in fact it's pretty scattered), but even if it were, that's more of an achievement these days than a detriment. At least it shows direction. Combine that with a solid set of songs and you're onto a winner.

Modern Man is sooooooooooooooooooooo good. Along with the rest of the album.

I'm still hung up on We Used to Wait... that there is a brilliant tune with such a poignant and touching subject matter to me lyrically... I honestly still get the tingle down my spine I got when i first heard that song. Just a wonderful moment on the album...

i like the way that this is by far the most popular thread concerning any albums this year - an implicit acknowledgement that this is clearly a landmark album for 2010 and its most important release, whatever anybody wants to say about it.

that's not to say it is the best, though. i leave the prize for artistic achievement to either joanna newsom or janelle monae.

or it means that people liked their previous work enough to try this...

I haven't heard enough albums from this year to call judgment on how great The Suburbs is in comparison to others. I do like it quite a bit, though.

yes, but still... the arcade fire are certainly not the only majorly popular and acclaimed indie outfit to make a release this year. there have been others. but the excitement surrounding those releases does not really seem to compare. people appear to acknowledge that there is something important and year-defining here, whether they care to admit it or otherwise... and whether the album is actually any good or otherwise. the suburbs is a winner whatever way one looks at it.

i think you're reading too much into it. i would guess most of the hype stems from the quality of their prior releases coupled with the frequency of their output.

and where are you observing this excitement? these forums?

I wouldn't call it year-defining or a landmark album but it's certainly enjoyable.

PS- I really don't know why everyone hates Neon Bible. :(

I don't hate Neon Bible at all. In fact, I think it's very good! I think most of the dislike from Neon Bible stems from it not measuring up to Funeral. Arcade Fire's worst career move, I think, was releasing an album they would never be able to top as their debut, because anything else they release will simply never be as good.

However, that's a problem for the critics, not for me. I think both Neon Bible and The Suburbs are very good.

That makes sense but it's a silly standard. I don't see the point in taking an album from a band and comparing it with a different album from the same band to decide how good it is. Isn't that an apples to apples kind of thing? Maybe I'm missing something but if I released an album that was well received I wouldn't be releasing other albums just trying to top the first. Each album is it's own thing, and each album can be considered good in different ways. I don't know what the fuck point I'm trying to make. When I was first asking about Arcade Fire I remember someone on here asking what I've listened to and I was like "well I've got Neon Bible" and they were like "ewwww, don't listen to Neon Bible," so I guess I just feel bad for it and feel the need to defend it, haha.

these and others. everybody is talking about this album. as for output, it is anything but frequent. 3 albums in 6 years. not particularly prolific and especially not by indie standards. as for quality/popularity of previous releases, then yes, of course that is an important factor in creating hype around this record. but the point is, it IS being hyped, and more than anything else. that makes it year defining.

It is year defining in the sense that, when asked in the future about major indie releases in 2010, the first album to come to mind WILL be the suburbs. that's all i meant by "definitive".

the suburbs is better than funeral. neon bible is IN SOME WAYS better than funeral. i hate the way that funeral has to automatically be the best thing they've done. it isn't. it's very good, yes, but it's also an uneven and incohesive record that sounds almost immature by comparison to later efforts.

the frequency of their output is fairly long. that leaves a lot of time for speculation / anticipation / hype.

Not in my opinion. I think Funeral trumps their other albums easily. I don't think that because Funeral is the designated masterpiece, decided by the Grand Music Council and set in place for us that we may follow the general critical opinion. I think that because I've listened to all of their albums many times, and I like Funeral the best.

Easily my favourite release this year - I wouldn't say it was 'better than' Funeral but it's certainly on the same level.

This one was a grower for me. I didn't find it that good the first time I listened to it but after several listens I now consider it to be their best work yet... yes I consider it to be even better than Funeral (one of the reasons for this might also be the fact that I've listened to Funeral so many times it may have lost some of its effect.)

The Suburbs is deffinetely in my top10 albums of 2010

I really liked the album when it came out. Then I listened to it some more, and realized I was practically forcing myself to like it.

Now, after a few whirls, I can safely say: The Suburbs is the worst Arcade Fire album. I mean, seriously, Rococo is like the worst song they ever released, Modern Man is annoying, Month of May tries to be catchy and energetic and just ends up as a steaming pile. Most other songs are a bit bland, and lack the depth of previous albums, IMO.

The only tracks I did kinda like are Spawl, the title track, and Half Light II. Other than that, it's just not good enough. Might be high expectations on my part, dunno.

But hey, what do I know, I liked Neon Bible better than Funeral.

I liked Rococo. The hook is nice and its sensual but the album on the whole was really shitty. I was under the impression that everyone loved it. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

i've only listened to it 3 or 4 times casually, but it hasn't grown on me much. i'd say it's average. i absolutely love Funeral though. not crazy about NB either.

I think it's pretty close to Funeral, and I thought that was a near flawless album. Quite easily the best band that has come out this century IMO.

Agreed Thom, agreed!

Thought this was a great album and a return to form. Neon Bible hasn't aged well for me but I'm a big fan of almost every song on The Suburbs.

The Suburbs definitely found its way into my favorite album of the year cathegory.... I loved it, and it spoke to me / expressed some of the emotions I have been feeling recently, so it was timely, thematically fairly relevant to me and musically really interesting and actually quite diverse. It had all of the aspects of my most loved albums over the years.

At first I HATED this album. I only liked We Used to Wait and The Suburbs, everything else was just a generic mess. Then after a week of listening I "got it" a little more. I started appreciating the little hooks in all the songs. The problem was I didn't LOVE any of the songs like I did on Funeral or Neon Bible. They were all pretty good, but there weren't any real highlights on the album. This went on for about 3 months. Then today I had somewhat of a revelation with it. The lyrics painted perfect scenery in my head and I fell in love with every track. I totally got what they were going for, the boredom of subrbia, waiting to move out to bigger and better things. I even teared up at one point, which I'm not ashamed to admit. I could finally RELATE to it, and that's the important thing. I absolutely love this album, and to me, it's the best album they've made so far. It's also my favourite of 2010. Just fantastic.

This album is basically the definition of a grower for me. It took FOREVER to "get", but once I got it I absolutely fell in love.

With Funeral being one of the better albums ever produced and Neon Bible not far behind that, my expectations for this were quite crazy leading me to be a bit dissapointed at first listen. Now it has grown on me and is in my opinion a better album than Neon, I would almost go so far as to say it's on a Funeral level - or at least very close. One of THE releases of 2010.

One of the best albums i've ever heard. Funeral is amazing. Neon Bible is amazing. The Suburbs is amazing. It didn't win a the best album of the year at the grammys for nothing. Surburban War could also be one of the best songs they've ever written. Wish they'd incorperate it into their live sets more.

It's true that after three releases, even the best bands typically have one album that's not quite as good as the others, ie Wolf Parade. But all three of AF's are just perfect. Neon Bible might be more of a grower, but that's probably only because so many people were biased towards Funeral because it was so dear to their hearts.

I think that Neon Bible was a noticeable step down from the other two, but, that being said, it's still a fantastic album. It's just that Funeral and The Suburbs are on a level that few bands in history have acheived. Like I said before, in my opinion they are head and shoulders above any band that has come out this century.

This produced a few lulz:

Who Is Arcade Fire??!!?

Hahaha^

Man it's crazy that something from Merge records won a Grammy. Cool though.

Hahahahahahahahaha

"How can this group get album of the year when they didn't even have as many top ten as Gaga? Did this group even have a number 1 hit?"

That painfully sums this up.

you know what i think it's awesome that Arcade Fire won a grammy and justin beiber didn't it gives me hope for the world.

I hate the grammy/brits controversy.
I'd rather have Beiber win.

It's nice to occasionally see a band win a grammy that actually deserves it, but people are just so fucking retarded and close-minded these days that it won't even make a difference.